Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Conjunctivitis and school/work exclusion

Any one else already had it with this season's exclusion from school notes for run of the mill (viral) conjunctivitis?

Four this week ranging from demands for prescriptions before allowing students to return to school (I know antibiotics will fix it), "Date no longer infectious", etc... Last year I was given a Pertussis Quarantine form from the 1950's with "Pertussis" crossed out and "Pink eye" pencilled in.

It would be nice if there was a uniform policy, but the school health departments don't even follow their own district policies.

Sure would be simpler to practice bad medicine and prescribe antibiotics for ANY conjunctivitis rather than treat the patient appropriately.

I agree wholeheartedly. Schools have no clue when it comes to the management of infectious diseases. A good many cases of conjunctivitis are viral, although many are bacterial. The irony is that you can treat with Gent or Vigamox, and if it's viral, it's contagious for a long longer than 24 hours. But, to be fair, they can only go with the idea that it is bacterial.

According to the AAP, children are not even supposed to be excluded from school for lice at all especially after treatment with one of the rinses which the lice are resistant to anyway.